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Technology & Combat Characteristics

Each ARMD-class Space Carrier has a mass of 17 4000 metric tons. They each have a gravity control system, two reaction heat pile systems, two OTMN-3T Advanced Main Nozzle Clusters and many Vernier Thrusters.

At 430 meters in length, the Space-Carriers were much smaller than the large SDF-1 Macross and both ARMD-01 and ARMD-02 were originally meant to dock with the larger craft when the ship achieved orbit during its maiden voyage.[1][2]

History

2003

The ARMD-class vessels were designed as space carriers for variable fighters and other U.N. Spacy mecha. The construction of the vessels started in April 2003 at the Lagrange Point 5 Manufacturing Station.[3]

2008

In December 2008, after having passed through a 5 year development period, the ARMD-01 and ARMD-02 were commissioned. The original plan of the U.N. Spacy was to have a fleet composed of the two ARMD-class Space Carriers and a great number of Oberth-class Destroyers, all centred on the SDF-1.[4]

It was intended that in space, ARMD-01 would dock on the port side of the SDF-1 Macross and ARMD-02 was to dock on the starboard side.[1] This would take place during the maiden voyage SDF-1 Macross which was scheduled to begin on February 7, 2009.

On February 7, 2009, ARMD-01 detected gravitational and spectroscopic anomalies originating from a high lunar orbit and sent a message to Earth about it, anofficer passed this message onto Captain Global on the stage where the Politician was making his speech. Due to unexpected circumstances, ARMD-01 and ARMD-02 were not able to immediately dock with the Macross and instead accompanied Oberth-class Destroyers to attack the newly encountered Zentradi aliens under orders from Captain Global.

ARMD-01 engaged Thuverl-Salan-class Battleships in a battle above Earth and launched some of its 78 SF-3A Lancer II space fighters to use long range missiles on one of the battleships. However, the beam weaponry from three Thuverl-Salan-class battleships destroyed some of the fighters. ARMD-01 proceeded to use Long-Range Anti-Ship Reaction Missiles which did manage to destroy one battleship. Vrlitwhai Kridanik was alerted of this. Vrlithwai then decided to use his Nupetiet-Vergnitzs-class Fleet Command Battleship's guided beam cannons. After two series of shots, ARMD-01 was severely damaged and the mecha aboard it were left floating about. ARMD-02 was luckier and the crew managed to send a message to First Lieutenant Hayase stating the fact they had only sustained minor damage and that ARMD-01 was out of commission. The message also stated that the enemy had broken through the space defense perimeter, and were heading on a direct course for the Macross. (SDFM: "Boobytrap")

Later that day, during the calm before the battle, Vanessa Laird told Captain Global that she had detected 24 additional UFOs on a descent vector to the Macross, the reason she wasn't able to detect them before because the reaction weaponry ARMD-01 used on the Thuverl-Salan-class Battleships rendered the Macross's radar ineffective.

The first wave the Zentradi sent was merely a decoy. When the Politician arrived on the bridge to persuade Captain Global to launch, he reminded him that ARMD-02 was still combat ready. He demanded the Macross to launch and then dock with ARMD-02 immediately afterwards. After the Macross Operators confirmed that the gravity control systems were in the clear, Vanessa received a message from U.N. Forces HQ stating that fighter retrieval was complete and that space carriers ARMD-01 and ARMD-02, were proceeding to the rendezvous point. [5]

2012

At the end of the war, ARMD-01 and ARMD-02 were rebuilt and attached to the refitted SDF-1 Macross as originally intended.

2031

ARMD-01 and ARMD-02 were attached to the SDF-1 Macross while it was on its voyage.